Beer, weed and chicken salad: New details released in fatal crash

The motorist in a fatal January motorcycle crash, who is under investigation for impaired driving, told a deputy she didn’t believe she was driving intoxicated.

That and more is revealed in new police documents released to InMaricopa yesterday.

The investigation shows Homestead resident Dena Paige Devine, 53, drank several beers and ate a marijuana edible before she got behind the wheel that night, but after half a year, she hasn’t been charged with so much as DUI.

“I don’t think I was impaired to that degree,” Devine told investigating Deputy Jeff McElwain at the Jan. 21 crash scene. McElwain is a Pinal County Regional Vehicular Crime Unit member. He was joined by four other investigators at the crash site.

Devine told McElwain she consumed four beers and consumed a cannabis gummy at a football party the night of the crash that killed Jordan Piergrossi, 47.

Pinal County Sheriff’s Office recently released the report after six months and an InMaricopa public records request.

Crash scene investigators said the Mesa motorcyclist crashed into the passenger side of Devine’s 2020 Subaru Outback SUV.

PCSO officials confirmed Devine was being investigated for driving under the influence.

The report states Devine told McElwain she consumed a cannabis gummy and four beers during a TV playoff football game where food was served.

She left the party at about 9 p.m. with an unnamed man, the report states.

“As [Devine] initiated her left turn from Honeycutt Road, she observed a vehicle blaring in the middle of the roadway westbound on Honeycutt Road,” the report states. “As [Devine] was navigating her left turn, she observed the vehicle approaching feeling she had no time to speed up or slow down to avoid the vehicle.”

Devine told the deputy the impact of the motorcycle forced her vehicle to “lift” and start “puttering.” She pulled the Outback to the right shoulder of North Continental Boulevard. An unknown female and two unknown males came to the motorcyclist’s aid.

Devine was referred to other officers for a drug evaluation at the sheriff’s office substation on North Wilson Avenue, the crash probe report states.

Devine’s male passenger estimated the motorcycle was traveling at about 100 miles per hour as it came toward the vehicle because he heard no sound of breaking.

The passenger said the impact on the side of the vehicle caused “the chicken salad container in his hands to be thrown towards [Devine] in the driver’s seat.”

He described the impact “as if a bomb had exploded.”

The passenger said he received a small laceration to his right elbow in the crash.

While a 12-pack of IPA MoonJuice was found in the rear of the vehicle with two loose cans, no open containers were found in Devine’s vehicle, investigators said.

Blood evidence was collected at the scene, but the lab results from the Arizona Department of Public Safety lab have not been released.

No charges have been filed.

The Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office reported that Piergrossi died at the scene from “multiple blunt impact injuries.”

His face mask was torn away from his helmet and flung 9 feet away, the report states.

PCVCTF Officer Tyler Gordon with Eloy Police, the lead investigator in the crash probe, said a warrant was issued Jan. 29 through Eloy Municipal Court, giving the task force access to the “black box” of the vehicle Devine was driving.

The so-called black box is a device formally known as an “event data recorder.” EDRs are found in all newer vehicles today. The device helps investigators determine who was at fault by detailing what happened in the moments before a collision.

When Maricopa officers arrived, they found Piergrossi’s body in the road amid the bike’s wreckage, which was strewn about the intersection.

Devine previously faced intimidation, physical injury and aggravated assault charges out of Maricopa in Pinal County Superior Court, but they were all dismissed by 2021.

This post Beer, weed and chicken salad: New details released in fatal crash appeared first on InMaricopa .